Pluralistic: 1900s futurism (07 Mar 2024)

Today’s links 1900s futurism: Karl Schroeder on the profound conservativism of 20th Century sf. Hey look at this: Delights to delectate. This day in history: 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019, 2023 Upcoming appearances: Where to find me. Recent appearances: Podcasts, events and more. Latest books: You keep readin’ em, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Upcoming books: Like I said, I’ll keep writin’ ’em. Colophon: All the rest. 1900s futurism (permalink) I’m profoundly skeptical of the idea that the future can be predicted, and doubly skeptical that sf writers are any kind of prophet. The former grotesque fatalism (if the future can be predicted, then what we do doesn’t matter); the latter is tragicomic hubris. If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog: https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/07/the-gernsback-continuum/#wheres-my-jetpack That said, few people have been more consistently useful in understanding and anticipating (and yes, building) the future than my friend and colleague Karl Schroeder, whom I’ve known since I was 16 years old. Karl was the first person I heard say the word “internet.” Also: “fractal,” “World Wide Web,” “ftp,” and numerous other touchstones of the future just over the horizon. Karl is, in fact, a futurist (“foresight consultant”) who approaches the work with the same shrewd insight, wild imagination and humility that he brings to his fiction. In a new essay written with both his futurist and sf writer hats on, he nails down the toxic shadow cast by the…Pluralistic: 1900s futurism (07 Mar 2024)

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